The OpenDNS addresses can be typed into your router, into one computer, or even into a single phone. Each place protects something different. Choosing the right place is the difference between protecting the whole house and protecting one screen.
People often set OpenDNS on the first device they find — usually their own laptop — and then wonder why the children's tablet is still unfiltered. DNS settings apply only to the device (or network) where you set them. Set them on the router and every device that joins your Wi-Fi inherits them automatically. Set them on one PC and only that PC is covered. This guide compares the two honestly, including the two real situations where the single-device setup is actually the right answer.
When the OpenDNS addresses live in the router, the router hands them to every device that connects — laptops, phones, tablets, smart TVs, game consoles and your guests' phones — with no per-device work. New device joins the Wi-Fi, it is filtered from the first minute. Devices that cannot run security software at all, like cheap smart bulbs and cameras, still get their lookups checked. For a home, this is almost always the right place, and it is the setup the video demonstrates. One honest requirement: you need the router's admin password, and the router must let you change DNS — nearly all do, but a few locked ISP routers hide the option.
There are two genuine cases for setting OpenDNS on one device only:
On Windows the setting lives in the network adapter properties (shown above). On a phone it is in the Wi-Fi network's advanced settings — and remember it applies only while that phone is on that Wi-Fi.
If you create a dashboard account and register a network, do not run the OpenDNS IP updater on a laptop that travels. The updater tells OpenDNS "my network is now at this address" — run it from a hotel or a friend's house and it registers their network against your settings, while your home network's filtering quietly stops matching. The updater belongs on an always-on PC at home, or better, in the router itself if it supports dynamic DNS updates. A travelling laptop should use the OpenDNS addresses for basic phishing protection only, with no dashboard expectations attached.
The full video sets OpenDNS on the router so the whole network is covered — follow along on your own router.
▶️ Watch Full VideoNo. Devices set to obtain DNS automatically (the default) receive the router's DNS addresses when they connect. Setting the addresses on a PC as well does no harm, but it is unnecessary, and it can confuse troubleshooting later.
Set the OpenDNS addresses on the individual devices you care about most, or add your own router behind the ISP router and run your home network from that. Both work; the device-level setup is the quick fix, your own router is the permanent one.
Yes. Anyone connected to the Wi-Fi network that uses those DNS settings gets the same filtering, including guests. If your router offers a separate guest network, check whether it uses the same DNS settings — most do, but verify with the welcome test page while joined to the guest network.